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Tobias Wolff's new collection of short stories, Our Story Begins, centers on moments of quiet epiphany. "If you change the direction of your life by a little degree, years later you're going to end up in a very different direction than if you hadn't," Wolff says.

Three years ago, journalist Steve Lopez met a homeless musician on skid row in Los Angeles. He soon learned that the man, Nathaniel Ayers, had once been a promising violinist, and that he had left the Juilliard School because of his struggle with mental illness. Ayers is the subject of Lopez's new book, The Soloist.

Brothers David and Anton Treuer are members of the Ojibwe nation from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. Both professors, they work to preserve the Ojibwe language, one of the few Native American languages in active use.

Paul Polak, founder of the nonprofit International Development Enterprises, has spent 25 years working to eradicate poverty. In Out of Poverty, he says simple technologies and a willingness to listen are key — and that government subsidies can do more harm than good.

After assaults from protesters during the Olympic torch relay, anti-foreign sentiment has grown in China. The surge in nationalism has been well-documented by China's vibrant Internet community. Many Web sites run by young bloggers reflect anger over perceived anti-Chinese bias in Western media reports about Tibet.

Can we learn from our past mistakes? Pico Iyer finds modern meaning in Graham Greene's novel about a naive American who arrives in a foreign place full of ideas about democracy, and how he can teach an ancient culture a better, "American" way of doing things.

The coming-of-age story isn't new, but a couple of new novels based on this theme stand out. Alan Cheuse reviews Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, by Susan Gregg Gilmore, and The Flowers, by Dagoberto Gilb.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches With Teach for America, by Donna Foote.

Gefilte fish has a special place in Jewish cooking and tradition as a misunderstood but delicious treat. Jewish cooking guru Joan Nathan cooks a homemade batch of gefilte fish with Jacki Lyden.

Joe Buford, 63, has a high school diploma but kept a secret, even from his family: He couldn't read. He managed to fool others into thinking that he could. And he was terrified that his inability would be passed on to his kids.